Ed Markey: “Again, when they were called on it out here on the floor, they said, ``Don't worry, our intention is not to hurt…”

“Again, when they were called on it out here on the floor, they said, ``Don't worry, our intention is not to hurt grandma,'' and they never corrected it. We were forced to vote out here on the floor on the bill with grandma paying 400 extra bucks each year, and, by the way, the same bill giving $25,000 a year tax breaks for people who make $400,000 or $500,000 a year. It would take 70 or 80 grandmas, each kicking in 400 bucks to then turn around and hand away 25,000 tax breaks to people making over $400,000 or $500,000 a year. Now let me say this about grandma. There was one weekend where she could get grandpa out of the nursing home, and they were so happy. They decided to take the grandkids to a national park, and so they got into the 1974 Ford Fairlane with the grandkids and headed off for the national park, and then the ultimate indignity: The Republicans propose to strip away the Golden Age passport so they can get into national parks. Now is that right? I mean, yeah, OK, maybe we should look at some of these programs, but do you really think grandma and grandpa are getting too much? You know they took us through the thirties, the Depression, World War II, and then they built us into the greatest country in the world in the fifties, sixties, and seventies that has ever been known in the history of the planet. They have sacrificed to make this the great country it is.…”